Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb today announced that 6 local projects have begun work to help improve access to psychological therapies for those with severe mental illnesses.

The 6 NHS demonstration sites are already leaders in the mental health field and have been chosen to implement the National Institute of Clinical Excellence’s recommended psychological therapies.

Over the next 5 months, and into 2013/14, funding of £1.2m will be used to help these trusts share information with other health organisations, about how they deliver the best treatments that lead to improved patient choice and recovery.

Work will include:

demonstrating how people with severe mental illness and personality disorder can get better access to psychological therapies

sharing good practice to other services and sharing how improvements in services can be made

providing good quality data on how services can be improved for patients and identifying the clinical, non-clinical and economic benefits

Norman Lamb said:

“For too long people with the most severe mental illnesses and personality disorders have suffered from poor care, or have been over prescribed anti-psychotic medications. We are prioritising mental health like never before, making sure that it sits on par with physical health.

”We want to see massive improvements in treatment for people with severe mental illnesses, including with better access to psychological therapies. I am looking forward to seeing the results of our pilots and an improvement in care for those most in need.”